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Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball head named Sega chief creative officer

Sega COO Okitane Usui is retiring at the end of March, leading to a corporate reshuffling in the wake of poor fiscal results in the most recent quarter.

Sega has seen a shift in its corporate structure upon the retirement of its chief operating officer, Okitane Usui. The executive will leave on March 31, and Sega has announced a host of new positions in the company moving forward. Toshihiro Nagoshi, who headed up the teams that launched the Super Monkey Ball and Yakuza series, has been promoted to chief creative officer.

As CCO, Nagoshi will be responsible for "the overall look and feel of all materials, media, and branding" of Sega. That's a lot to look after for the man that recently helmed Binary Domain.

The COO position left by Usui will be filled by former managing director Naoya Tsurumi, GamesIndustry.biz reports. Tsurumi served as general manager of the international and global consumer business divisions. Meanwhile Shigeru Yamashita and Yuki Sugino have been promoted to managing directors, while serving their prior roles as general manager of Sega Japan and manager of research & development, respectively.

This corporate reshuffling comes in the wake of a poor nine-month financial report, which showed its consumer business in decline. Sega subsequently laid off 37 people from its Brisbane, Australia studio, which most recently worked on the London 2012 Olympics video game.

Steve Watts

Editor-In-Chief

Steve Watts' youthful memories are are a blur of pixels, princesses, castles, and Mega Busters. After writing about games as a pastime for years, he got his first shot at a paid gig at 1UP. He's freelanced for several sites since then, and found a friendly home at Shacknews. His editorial duties include news, reviews, features, and lunatic ravings. He lives in the Baltimore-Washington area with his shockingly understanding wife.